Egypt Leads North Africa in Hotel Development, Report Shows

The Lagos-based consulting firm W Hospitality Group has released its report titled "African Hotel Chain Development Pipeline" based on responses from 50 global and regional (African) hotel chains. It shows that 577 hotels and hotel complexes, totaling 104,444 rooms, are under development, an increase of 13.3% compared to 2024. Similarly, development activity has seen impressive growth in North Africa, with a 23% year-on-year increase, compared to 6% in sub-Saharan Africa.

Over the past five years, the hotel development project portfolio has grown at an annualized rate of 4% in sub-Saharan Africa, 12% in North Africa and 7% globally, the report says. With 33,926 rooms under development across 143 hotels, Egypt continues to lead the way in terms of development. It is at the top of the pack. This number of rooms is nearly four times the number of rooms in Morocco, second, with 8,579 rooms across 58 hotels. With 7,320 rooms, Nigeria takes third place. Ethiopia (5,648 rooms), Cape Verde (5,565 rooms), Kenya (4,344 rooms) and Tunisia (4,336 rooms) follow. South Africa (4,076 rooms), Tanzania (3,432 rooms) and Ghana (3,125 rooms) complete the top 10.

While Egypt is at the top of the pack, it has less than 50% of rooms under construction, a proportion significantly lower than that of Morocco, second, with over 72%.
Ethiopia has the highest percentage of rooms under construction. Ghana takes third place. As for Cape Verde, Nigeria and Tanzania, they have some of the lowest percentages.